


Somewhere in between, breathing out and breathing in

by weblectricity



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, F/F, Lesbian Robin Buckley, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Robin Buckley is scared of a bisexual girl, Steve Harrington wingman extraordinaire, pretty girl winks at Robin once and she's a goner, that's it that's the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-07-29 13:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20082733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weblectricity/pseuds/weblectricity
Summary: Robin has a good thing going. She likes her job, she gets to hang out with her best friend, life is good, PTSD be damned. Someday she'll be off in college in a cityanywhere elseand there'll be girls who like other girls. Not in Hawkins, nope, definitely not, so why does this girl KEEP WINKING AT HER WHAT THE HELL IS SHE SUPPOSED TO DO?orRobin Buckley gets the girl. (Actually the girl gets Robin, but let's not split hairs.)





	Somewhere in between, breathing out and breathing in

"Nope, not dealing with that today. Hey dingus, your children are here!"

It's a practiced spiel at this point. The four teenagers roll up in front of the store on their bikes (plus skateboard) in all their teen glory and tragedy and Robin is very much NOT IN THE MOOD today. She takes the return tapes off the counter and goes to shelve them, leaving the mother hen to deal with her chicks. She knows Steve loves the kids, she knows they deserve every shred of empathy they are given and maybe she is part of this strange family now, but sometimes she needs her peace and quiet.

"Steve!"

"Henderson!"

A chorus of less enthusiastic _hey-Steve_s follows and Harrington replies with a polite "Shitheads."

She lets the monotony of shelving pull her from the conversation, but the distraction only lasts so long until the stack of tapes in her hands is gone.

"C'mon Steve, we'll rewind them this time for sure!"

"That's not the issue and you know it!"

"It's not even R rated!"

"Of course it's R rated, don't try to trick me!"

"Hey Robin," Max greets her, hanging a bit back from the group. Robin likes her, she's smart, choosing her battles and all that.

"Hey Mad Max, how's it going?"

"I'm good."

"You sure?" Robin presses.

"Yeah, it's better," the redhead conceds and that's as good as it can be at this point.

—

Robin swipes the tape from Mike's hands and glares at him. She's a _cousin,_ an older cousin, she knows how to give a good glare, but she probably has less than a year of glaring left with this bunch before it'll be useless.

"We have a good thing going here right?" _Nod._ "You get to harass Harrington and I actually like my job for once. It's a win-win all around." _Nod._ "You get this back in 3 days, Thursday evening before closing. If you don't get it back you won't be coming back here, poor Steve'll get fired," _Hey!_ "and he won't have the gas money to chauffeur your lame asses around no more. Deal?" _Enthusiastic nods all around._ "And you, Max, you keep those idiots in line."

"Wha- why me!"

"Yeah, why her?"

"Cause she's a girl so she's smarter, more mature, 50 % less lame and I can depend on her."

The younger teens give a few eye rolls, but hold their tongues, and Robin shoots a smirk and a wink at Max, who smiles back gratefully and Robin counts that as a win.

"Steve, give me your employee card."

"Hey!"

—

The deal was done and the "children" hang around, inviting Steve to watch it with them _(Go watch it, dingus, Reanimator is good)_, Max trying to get Robin to come (she will, if only for the customary _We could take them on_ discussion after the movie. It's as good a coping mechanism as any.) when the bell rings.

"Hey Max."

"Oh, hey, Alex, Jess, Sam."

Robin rolls her eyes at the way Steve switches attention and flashes a smile at the girls, while the boys gape at Max for knowing older girls. Pretty good looking girls, maybe a bit younger than Robin, but she can never tell lately. "Soccer team," Max says rolling her eyes at the boys as they gawk at her and punches Lucas in the chest. Steve tries to act cool, but can't really shake Dustin and the damage is pretty much done at that point. The girls still smile and giggle at him, and laugh outright when Robin starts imitating him just behind his shoulder. She has the timing of the _bashful-laugh-followed-by-fingers-combing-hair-back_ maneuver down pat.

—

They are driving back home from the Wheeler basement Tuesday night, movie night over, junk food eliminated. Infiltrate his lab to destroy the reagent, and kill the reanimated corpses either with fire _(fireworks!)_ or brute force is the ultimate plan in the case of reanimated zombie people, at the end of the night.

"The soccer girls were pretty cute, huh?" Steve says on the drive back and it's weird and it's new and so so exhilarating to talk with _somebody_ like this and it's unfair to think of Steve as _somebody,_ because she's pretty sure she won't infiltrate a Russian secret lab and be drugged up by evil Russian doctors and generals with anyone else, and she wouldn't want it to be anyone else. To play spy with. To talk about girls with.

She laughs and says "Yea, they were."

And without missing a beat Steve asks "Ponytail, black girl or Molly Ringwald?"

"Oh my god, how can you talk about girls like that!"

"Well, I didn't get their names, Dustin kept blabbering in my ear!"

"Ugh!" Robin says, but after after a look from Steve both say Molly Ringwald at the same time.

"I knew it! You're a sucker for pretty girls," Steve laughs while Robin incredulously asks "Did you even watch The Breakfast club?"

—

Soccer girls come back next week and without the distraction of Dustin and the other children Steve is in his element. He's charming, he's flirty, his hair is good. Robin loves Steve and it's kind of stupid and kind of fun. It's become a game of sorts, carried over from Scoops Ahoy! and upgraded where she'll just mock him behind his back and try to make the girls laugh at him. She always loved making girls laugh and it's not really flirting, she has never ever ever flirted with a girl but... It's nice.

And then Steve'd do something like saying: "I'm just a good looking guy with great hair, if you want someone smart you should hang around with Robin," and Alex (or Sam?) would wink at her and Robin would freeze behind his back gaping like a fish, because WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

But nothing happened, she might've imagined it because Steve's flirting goes on, and the girl winks at _him_ so really, nothing happened right?

Steve scores a date with Alex later that week, so nothing happened right? Right?

—

Because obviously nothing happened, Alex keeps coming back. With her friends, and alone, and Robin admires how Steve can just talk casually and freely with just about anyone. And somehow Robin now knows more about soccer than she ever did and learns that she and Alex listen to a lot of the same music.

"Steve, are you friends with Alex?"

"Huh?" he responds smartly. "What do you mean?"

"Well she comes by a lot, she's telling soccer practice stuff, you talk about your children ..."

"Well I have a date with her, she probably can't wait that long," he says with a smirk. Then he actually thinks about the question. (It's a Steve thing – he goes for confident right off the bat, but always thinks about what Robin says. The banter is fun, but when she wants an honest answer she gives him a moment or ten.) "She's also talking movie and music stuff with you all the time. She knows you're cool," he says, reaching for something in his thoughts but then doesn't overthink it. "I guess we're friends with her," he finishes, and turns a Steve-and-Alex question into a Steve-and-Alex-and-Robin answer.

—

"Robin!"

"What!"

"Dude!"

"Dingus!"

He looks around, and lowers his voice. "Is both a thing?"

"What?" Robin says and she's already laughing.

"Liking both!"

"Like fruits _and_ vegetables? Hitchcock _and_ Cronenberg? Winter _and_ summer?"

"No, c'mon, y'know,_ both!"_

"I assure you that I do not know."

"Boys! Girls! Boys and girls!"

"Steve, do you need to tell me something?"

"Yes!"

"What!?"

"What?"

"..."

"Is it a thing?" Steve insists intently.

"Yes, it's a thing," Robins says, searching his face. "You're not alone," she adds carefully.

"What, no, not me! I mean I don't think so ... I never really thought about it ..." It's such a sincere answer, Robin can't even laugh about it. Former King of Hawkins High isn't even offended she assumed he was coming out to her.

"Wait, this is not about me!" he returns to his argument.

"Then who?"

"Alex!"

"What? Alex?" No, no, this is _not_ happening.

"Yes! I think she likes you!"

"No! No. She's into you, Mr. ladies man!"

"You said it's a thing!"

"Yeah, but not her. Not me."

"Listen, about half-way though the date she started asking me all about you! Like how long have we known each other, were we a thing, what you like, stuff like that."

"No, c'mon, no way."

"Yes!"

"Okay, stop. Did you make out with her."

"Hell yeah I did." Good old Steve, confidence in metric tons.  
  
"See!"

"But she wasn't really into it."

"But you made out!"

"That's not the point!"

"That's the main point!"

"You said both's a thing!"

_Jingle. _A young family entering the video store put that conversation to a stop rather effectively, to Robin's relief.

—

Robin marches into the video store angrily and starts pacing in front of the counter and Steve behind it. She's already ranting before she takes two steps into the store.

" ... and this piece switches between like three different time signatures and it goes back and forth between slurred notes and staccato notes and even when you play it right it doesn't sound that good and _nobody_ can play it right, it's trash basically, and now every time I see that crescendo on my paper I wanna die because the goddamn trumpets keep bursting my ear drums and Brittany Davis keeps forgetting her part so i have to pick up the slack and I'm gonna lose my mind."

Steve is sipping on a cherry coke at the counter, but watching her with a smile is Alex and she has shorts revealing her scraped knees and sculpted calves and Robin freezes.

"Damn, that shit's crazy," Alex throws in and there's THAT GOD DAMNED WINK and Robin will maybe die from lack of oxygen because how does breathing work again?

"Yeah, tell Brittany to get her shit together," Steve says, zeroing on the one thing he deciphered. Her lungs restart from the sheer idiocy. Thank you Steven G. Harrington.

"Gonna get changed!" she yells at a inappropriate volume and bolts to the backroom while trying to make less of a fool of herself. She considers her success limited.

—

"Hey Robin," Alex says, appearing around a shelf and when did she even come inside? Her shoulder length wavy hair around her tanned face is a familiar sight by now, but still sens her heart racing every time. No shorts today, so that's good. Less chances of being the proverbial dingus.

"Oh, hey, Alex."

"That's a nice shirt." Kate Bush was staring at Alex from the center of Robin's chest with a half-lidded gaze.

"Oh, how was your date with Steve, huh? You had a date with Steve, right? Good catch girl!" Robin starts blabbering because that happened.

"Oh, he's cool, but I think we'd be better off as friends."

"Yeah, he's a dingus," Robin says and Alex laughs and maybe Robin can breathe if she relaxes a bit.

"Hey wanna go grab something to eat later? Your shift is ending soon right?" Nope, Robin will not be breathing anytime soon.

"Haha, haha! No, nope, gotta stay late, gotta, um, rewind the tapes. All the tapes!"

"Okay, maybe next time?"

"Haha, yeah, maybe!" she finishes in a totally neutral, non-shrieky manner, mostly, surely.

—

Alex is pretty, and Alex likes to talk with Robin, and sometimes maybe Alex winks at her, and a lot of the time Alex is smiling at her and Robin might reach her breaking point today. She's been in the breakroom for the past 20 minutes (maybe more, probably more). If she doesn't get fired, she's quitting.

"Hey, Rob, are you coming out?" Steve asks from the other side of the door. A single hysterical laugh escapes her.

"I already did, Steve, did you forget? Were you that high?" she says gently at the door. It feels a bit like being back in that bathroom.

"Open the door, I'm coming in," he says, and she does.

"We can't be both in here, your children will come steal all the horror movies."

"Eh, they can have them," he says, then adds, "I told Alex to watch the store." Robin laughs breathlessly.

"Maybe Keith will hire her, I'm quitting."

"Why are you running away from her, Robin?"

"Because she great and she might like me, but I like her differently. And it's gonna end badly." Robin can feel the prickly sensation of tears in the back of her eyes. It really feels like being back in that damn bathroom in the mall that turned into a landfill after being scrubbed clean by men in hazmat suits.

Steve leans back against the door and the stare together at the opposite wall.

"Robin, I think she likes you too."

"Steve, you were on a date with her, you were making out with her. She was talking about her ex-boyfriend yesterday! I'm not gonna pine after another straight girl again, Steve."

"So she likes boys and girls. Big deal. It's called bisexual, I looked it up," he says with a self satisfied nod.

"Yeah, okay, alright. She might be. But I'm not both. She'll gonna want a guy in like a week."

"You don't know that. Maybe you'll be sick of her in a week anyway." 

Robin rolls her eyes at him in answer. 

"Okay you're crushing hard, point taken, but just talk with her. She likes you," Steve says and looks at her meaningfully. "She _really_ likes you, like _that_," he adds and

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I asked her, seriously, and she's, um, serious," Steve insists, with an almost poetic grasp of the English language.

Robin sighs-groans loudly. She resigns herself to the fact that a conveniently loose Eldritch horror will not come to swallow up Family video and her with it. She might as well get this over with.

"Okay," she says in defeat and Steve fistpumps excitedly.

—

It's five minutes later and Robin is starting to hate this backroom. There's a soft knock at the door. She opens it without moving much from her position next to it. 

"Steve said he has a nail bat in his car and I'm not sure if he's trying to impress or threaten me," Alex says and shit, Robin is reduced to laughing at the worst jokes now, or what?

"Yeah, I tried to tell him not all girls are into that. I don't think it's sunk in yet." If you can't beat them ...

Alex laughs then turns back to Robin. "I really like you and I'd like to get to know you better. And maybe make out with you along the way." And no wonder she gets along with Steve so well, confidence in metric tons, man.

"But what if you decide you'd rather be with a guy?" Robin asks, worrying her lip. And woah, she has never seen this kind of laser focus directed at her mouth before.

"Robin, I like guys and girls, it doesn't mean I fool around. I don't cheat. I just don't really mind what someone has between their legs. I mean I do. I like both."

"I don't," she says and tries to make sense of her feelings. "I've always felt different, you know. But at some point I realized there are girls like me, and at some point I'm going to meet the girl that's like me, and we would date and stuff. And get old together because there really aren't many girls who like girls. And I'd know she's like me because she wouldn't be interested in guys. But you're not like me, and I'm not sure how to deal with that."

"Are you just going to reduce me to which kind of junk I'm into? I'm not like you in liking only girls, yea, but we like the same kind of music, we both like artsy movies. And you make me laugh, you know," Alex says looking away and shrugging. "A sarcastic streak makes me swoon."

Robin watches her move in front of her and place her hands on the wall left and right of her head, pinning her in place. Robin can do little more than panic in silence.

"Let's make this simple," Alex continues. "I know you're scared because I am too. It's not like I'm doing this every week. Just don't overthink stuff." Alex nods, more to herself probably. "I'm going to kiss you now, because I've been wanting to kiss you for a while now. And you can say stop and I'm not going to bother you again." 

Alex might not be the first girl Robin ever kissed, but she's the first girl that kissed Robin. She is pretty much the best kisser in the world, sure feels like that, but this might be subjective. And maybe she really did want this for a while, because when Robin starts kissing back she starts biting and pulling her lip hungrily and Robin melts into a puddle of happy mush.

—

There is insistent knocking at the door. Robin is a bit out of it, lack of oxygen a contributing factor. She can hear Steve calling her name and she is forced out of her happy bubble of _making out with a girl holy shit_ to get the door.

"Steve, I'm making out with Alex," she tells him, when she's opened the door, and she meant to go for annoyed whispering but ended up with awestruck giddiness.

"Dude, I know, and if you two don't get out of here and find a place with walls thicker than cardboard, the whole store's gonna know. I'll cover your shift, so just get out of here."

There is a brief moment of dread at _everybody knowing,_ then Alex pulls her by the hand, gives Steve a kiss on his cheek _thanks lover boy_ and drags her out of the video store.

—

"Hey dingus," Robin says the next day, as she walks into the store in a daze.

Steve watches her with a grin. She's about to insult him somehow (it's their thing), but her brain doesn't seem to work properly.

"Amazing kisser, isn't she?" he says instead, his stupid grin somehow infecting her.

"Holy shit," she says, "I think we made out for hours!"

"Alright, man! She definitely likes you more than me!"

"I'm sorry ... ?" she tries cautiously.

"No, that's great! I'm so happy for you!" Steve "The Hair" Harrington, wingman extraordinaire to her lesbian ass.

"Steve," she says slowly. "What do I do now?"

"Mess up a lot and learn from your mistakes?"

Nope, scratch that, Steve is as useless as any man. He's her best friend anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all comments are welcome! If you wanna shout about Robin at me on tumblr I'd love to hear from you, this is me: [weblectricity.tumblr.com](https://weblectricity.tumblr.com)
> 
> That short part of Robin complaining about band practice was almost verbatim lifted from a tumblr post by the lovely [floralathena](/users/floralathena)! Thanks for allowing me to steal it!
> 
> Title is from a Kate Bush song.


End file.
